housing crisis

LA City Council President Nury Martinez says the city's new program will provide subsidies of up to $2,000 to some 50,000 families. More than 100,000 people applied the first day.

African Americans are 40% less likely to own their homes than whites. And blacks are more likely to hold jobs that put them at risk of the coronavirus. The civil unrest follows decades of inequality.

Journalist Conor Dougherty doesn't traffic radical ideas in Golden Gates, but tells the story of housing in all its complexity, acknowledging that imperfect solutions are often the only solutions.

The plan includes $1 billion for a mortgage assistance fund for first-time homebuyers in the state, and $1 billion for an open line of credit to develop "very low- to moderate-income housing."

California's deadliest wildfire worsened an already bad housing crisis in rural Butte County. But the fire has jump-started a local effort to build a tiny home community for area homeless.

Most of the money will help preserve and build new homes for low and middle-income residents. A smaller portion will go toward homeless services and programs to keep people from being evicted.

Miami claims bank foreclosures in 2008 targeted black and Latino homeowners. When they defaulted, property values fell, which meant a drop in taxes. The city wants the right to sue the banks.

With ruined credit ratings atop financial loss, two ex-homeowners tell their story in the mortgage meltdown aftermath. They're wary of jumping back into the market, even if that likelihood is far off.